Automatic wagon-brake.



Patented Novgn, |902.

y A. J. snm-1R. AUTOMATIC WAGON BRAKE.

(Application led Aug. 18, 1902.)

(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

A. J. sux/nen.

AUTOMATIC WAGON BRAKE.

(Abpnmion med Aug. 18, 1902.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2, .I

um mm1 l* .1"'Ii l vll ml rif! Swanton UNITED STATES PATENT OEECE.

ANDREW JACKSON SNYDER, OF CASSOPOLIS,n MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR ,OF

ONE-HALF TO DAVID S. TALLERDAY.

AUTOMATIC WAGON-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters IPatent N o. 713,250, datedNovember 11, 1902.

l Application filed August 18, 1902. Serial No. 120,112. V(No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, ANDREW JACKSON SNY- DER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Cassopolis, in the coun'ty of Cass and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticWagon- Brakes; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. A

This invention relates to automatic wagonbrakes, and particularly tomechanism adapted to be actuated by the holding-back action of thedraft-animals to apply a brake regulating the speed of descent of thevehicle down a hill or grade.

The objects of the invention are, first, to provide an automatic brakeof this character which shall be simple of construction, efficient inuse, and inexpensive of production; second, to provide brake mechanismwhich can be temporarily thrown out of operative arrangement whenever itmay be desired to back the draft-animals Without applying the brake,and, third, to provide a lock for holding a standing vehicle againstmovement.

With the above and other objects in View, which will readily appear asthe nature of the invention is better understood, said inventionconsists in certain novel features of construction and combination andarrangement of parts,Which will be hereinafter fully described andclaimed, and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is a top plan View of a wagon with my improved brake'applied thereto.Fig. 2 is a central longitudinalsection through the same. Fig. 3 is arear end elevation of the same. Fig.4is a cross-section taken on theline 4 4 of Fig. 1 to illustrate the locking mechanism. Fig. 5 is adetail sectional View taken on the line` 5 5 of Fig. 3 to illustratemore clearly the connection of the brake -band. Fig. 6 is a detailbottom plan view of the tongue or pole and the connections for throwingthe brake into and out of operative position.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 denotes a wagon or vehicle ofany description, which consists of the front and rear supporting-wheels2 and 3, journaled upon the front and rear axles 4 and 5. 6 denotes thepole or tongue, connected by the front hound 7 to the front axle, Vand 8the reach, to one end of which the front axle is pivoted by the kingbolt9 and the other end of which is adjustably secured to the rear hound andaxle 5. These parts are old and well known and may be of any desiredconstruction.

In carrying out my invention I place upon the hubs of the rear Wheels 3the steel sleeves 10, which form the braking-surface upon which thebrake-bands 11 are adapted to operate to check the movement of theWheels. One end of said bands is supported by the arms 12, pivoted at 13to the ends of the rear holsters. The bands 11 surround thebraking-surfaces 10 and have their other ends carried by thepins 14,which project from one side ofthe disks 15, secured upon the ends of ahorizontal shaft 16, journaled at the rear of the axle 5 in brackets17.' Links 18 connect the free end ofthe arms 12, to which one end ofthe brake-band is pivoted, and the pins 19, projecting from the oppositeside 0f disks 15 and at diametrical opposite points from the pins 14.The coil-spring 20, which surrounds the shaft 16, has one of its endssecured to the shaft and its other end secured to one of the brackets 17and exerts its energy to hold the shaft in its normal position, in whichthe brake-band is open or extended to allow the rear wheels to rotatefreely.

Secured to the shaft 16 near its center is a drum or pulley 21, whichhas one end of a cable `or cord 22 secured to it. The said cable iswound one or more times about said drum and extends forwardly betweenthe bolster and rear axle and has its other end attached to a chain 23,located upon the upper surface of the reach 8. The opposite end of thechain is connected to one end of a sliding rod 24, which is guided inits movement by the grooved rollers 25, located upon the top of thereach. The front end of said sliding rod has a grooved pulley 26journaled thereon, which is adapted to engage an arcshaped yoke 27, thearms 28 of which project through the front bolster and are secured tothe block 29.

A cord or cable 30 has one of its ends at- ICO tached to said block 29and its other end wound about a drum 31, secured upon the upper end of avertical shaft 32, journaled in the front hound and tongue. Secured tothe lower end of the shaft 32 upon the under side of the hound is asimilar drum 33, to which one end of a cord or cable 34 is secured afterbeing wound around the same one or more times in a direction reverse tothat in which the cord 30 is wound upon the drum 31 in order that whenthe said shaft 32 is turned one of the drums will wind up its cord andthe other will unwind.

The free end of the cord 34 is secured to a head 35, slidably mountedupon the guiderods 36, supported in the brackets 37, secured to theunder side of the tongue and hound. The saidsliding head 35 has pivotedor hinged upon its upper side a catch 38, which is adapted to engage asecond sliding head 39, also mounted upon the guide-rods 36. Anoperating-cord 40 is fastened to said catch and extends upwardly throughan aperture in the hound and may be secured to the body of the wagonwithin convenient reach of the driver in order that he may disengage thesliding head 39 from the head 35 for a purpose hereinafter explained.The coilsprings 41 upon the guide-rods 36 force the sliding heads 39 and35 rearwardly.

To the sliding head 39 is fastened the rear ends of the cords or cables42, which extend forwardly along the pole or tongue 6, one on each sidethereof, and are passed around the guide-pulleys 43, carried by the clip44, secured to the tongue, and then extend outwardly along the neck-yokeand are passed around the guide-pulleys 45, carried by clips secured tothe same. Snap-hooks 46 are fastened upon the ends of these cables orcords for the purpose of attaching them to the ring on pole-strap, whichis connected with the breeching of the harness.

The device for locking the vehicle against movement consists in pivotingupon the rear bolster the pawls or dogs 47, which are adapted to beswung outwardly to engage one of the pockets or recesses 48, formed inthe hubs of the rear wheels. The pawls are adapted to be operatedsimultaneously by the links 49, which connect them to the opposite endsofa lever 50, pivoted to the rear bolster. rlhe links 49 are providedwith hand-grips 51, by means of which the links,and hence the pawls, areoperated. It will be readily seen that when the wagon is standing and itis desired to lock the same one of the hand-grips 51 is pulled outwardlyand both of the pawls 47 will be swung into engagement with the recessesor pockets upon the hubs of the rear wheels to lock the same.

In the operation of the brake the holdingback action of thedraft-animals upon the breeching of the harness will draw upon thecables 42 and pull the sliding head 39 and also the head 35 (as the twoare locked together by the catch 38) forwardly against the tension ofthe springs 41. The forward movement of the head 35 will draw upon thecable 34 and unwind the same from the drum 33, and at the same time thedrum 31 will wind up its cable 30, which will pull the block 29 and yoke27 forwardly and draw upon the sliding rod 24, the chain 23, and thecable 22 to rotate the shaft 16 against the tension of the spring 20.When the shaft 16 is turned, the ends of the brake-band will be drawntogether to tighten said bands upon the bearing-surfaces of the sleeves10 on the hubs, and hence brake and stop the movement of the wagon. Theinstant the tension is removed from the cables 42 by the draft-animalceasing to hold back the spring 20 will ,restore the shaft 16 to itsnormal position to release the brake-band and the springs 41 willrestore the sliding heads and other parts to their proper position.

When it is desired to back the wagon without applying the brake, theoperating-cord 40 is drawn upon to disengage the catch 38 upon the head35 from the sliding head 39, so that when the cables 42 are drawn uponby the backing of the animals the sliding head 39 will be drawnforwardly without moving the sliding head 35, and hence without applyingthe brake.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, it is thought that the construction, operation,and advantages of my improved automatic wagon-brake will be readilyapparent without requiring a more extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the principle orsacricing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a brake mechanism for vehicles, the combination with therunning-gear, of abraking device adapted to arrest the motion of thewheels, means attached to the harness for actuating said braking deviceby the pullingback action of the draft-animals, and means fordisconnecting the braking device and actuating means comprising asliding head having connection with the braking,r mechanism, a secondspring-actuated sliding head having the actuating means connectedthereto and a catch adapted to lock the said sliding heads together toconnect the braking device and its actuating mechanism, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a brake mechanism for vehicles, the combination with therunning-gear, of a braking device adapted to arrest the motion of thewheels, and means for actuating said braking device by the pulling-backaction of the draftanimals comprising a yoke slidably mounted in thefront bolster, a liexible connection between the forward end of saidyoke and the harness of the draft-animals, a sliding rod mounted betweenguide-rollers upon the run- IOO IIO

ning-gear provided upon its forward end with a grooved pulley adapted toengage said yoke, and a iexible adjustable connection between theopposite end of said rod and the braking device, whereby the said partsmay be operated at any angle to which the front axle is turned,substantially as described.

3. In a brake mechanism pfor vehicles, the combination with therunning-gear, of a braking device comprising a bearing-sleeve, abrake-band surrounding said bearing-sleeve, a supporting-arm for saidband, a spring-actuated shaft, connections between said shaft and theends of the brake-band, a drum xed to said shaft, and a flexibleconnection between the harness of the draft-animals and said drumwhereby upon the holding back of the animals the said shaft will berocked or turned to draw the ends of the brake-band together to causethe same to bind upon the bearing-sleeve and arrest the motion of thewheels, substantially as described.

4. The combination with the running-gear of a vehicle, of an automaticbrake mechanism, comprising a bearing-sleeve, a brakeband surroundingsaid bearing-sleeve, an arm for supporting said band, a spring-actuatedshaft, connections between said shaft and the ends of said band, a drumxed to said shaft, a iexible connection secured to said drum, a

sliding yoke in the front bolster, a sliding rod between said exibleconnection and said yoke, and means attached to the harness of thedraft-animals for operating said yoke, substantially as described.

5. The combination with the running-gear of a vehicle, of an automaticbrake mechanism comprising bearing-sleeves secured to the rearwheels,brake-bands surrounding said bearing-sleeves, an arm for supporting oneend of said band, a spring-actuated shaft journaled in brackets upon therear axle, disks secured upon said shaft provided with pins to which theends of said brake-bands are secured, a drum fixed to said shaft, a yokeslidably mounted in the front bolster, a sliding rod loosely connectedwith said yoke; a exible connection between said rod and drum, and aflexible connection between the harness of the draft-animals and saidsliding yoke, whereby the brake mechanism Will be operated upon theholding back of the animals, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto sot my hand in presence of twosubscribing wit- 55 HQSSBS.

ANDREW JACKSON SNYDER. Witnesses:

ULYssEs S. EBY, JESSE AUSTIN.

